TheDailyWhitePlains.com: As he tells one of the many stories of his life, Elliot Magaziner pulls out what looks to be a walking stick from the corner of his Scarsdale apartment and starts playing it.

He explains that he bought the “pochette” violin, used during the 18th century by dancing masters of the French royal courts, from an antique fair in Holland many years ago.

“They have one of these in a music room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” he said.
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Rodd Berro, president of the Music Conservatory for Westchester’s Board of Trustees, spoke about the drive of the conservatory’s late Executive Director Carol Shiffman.
By Sarina Trangle

Friends, family, and fellow music lovers gathered at the Music Conservatory of Westchester Friday to pay tribute to the art school’s former Executive Director Carol Shiffman, who lost her battle with breast cancer on Oct. 24.

Jean Newton, the new executive director, said Shiffman helped transform the Music Conservatory of Westchester into “a hub for the arts” by adding more jazz and modern music to the White Plains-based non-profit.

“She was an amazing woman,” said Newton. “She lit up the room with her worth and her passion for the arts. She always wanted to connect people to the arts.”

The “Share the Light: Celebrating the Life of Carol Shiffman” concert Friday evening included performances from the conservatory students, faculty, and a finale by an Israeli jazz band with dance accompaniment.

Shiffman, who died at age 65, grew up in dancing in her mother’s Queens Arts Center. She eventually opened her own Momentum Dance Company in Los Angeles, where she met her husband Larry Harbison.

Shiffman led several multi-arts organizations across the country, served as the SUNY Purchase Dance Dean and began as the conservatory’s executive director in July 2009.

Harbison, 67, said the concert was a nice tribute to his wife. Shiffman always enjoyed showing students they had the power to create.

“One of the most pertinent things about her teaching was helping individuals discover their creative power. Regardless of what they did after that, young people would come and discover they could create. Later we would run into them and they would say it helped them do whatever it is that they did with their lives,” said Harbison.

The conservatory and Harbison have established The Carol Shiffman Fund to continue the late Rye resident’s work.

Rodd Berro, president of the conservatory’s board of trustees, said the fund felt appropriate because Shiffman had always been diligently pushing the conservatory forward.

“Her motto was you start on time and you end on time. Not that you didn’t get stuff done, but that it had to happen. Unfortunately she didn’t have enough time here to get all her work done. But we hope to get some of it done for her,” said Berro.

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Nine-year-old William, who needs an adoptive family, joined Music Therapy Institute’s Dr. Tina Brescia and Lisa Sandagata (pictured above L-R) of the Music Conservatory of Westchester for a music therapy session as part of the Freddie Mac Foundation Wednesday’s Child program. You can see William on Wednesday’s Child with Janice Huff on Wednesday, June 29 during WNBC’s 6pm newscast. Celebrating its 25th year, the Music Therapy Institute has been the largest provider of professional music therapy services in the greater Westchester region, working individually and in small groups with over 2,000 children and adults each year. The Institute provides services onsite at the Music Conservatory of Westchester as well as throughout the county through the Institute’s Outreach program.
For more information about Wednesday’s Child, visit FreddieMacFoundation.org. To learn how you can help area foster children in need of adoption, visit www.wnbc.com or http://wednesdayschild.adopt.org or call 212-676-WISH (9474). For more information on the Music Therapy Institute at the Conservatory, call (914) 761-3900 or email us at info@musiced.org.

Photos/Jon Chattman

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Irving Faust with Carol Shiffman – Photo/Jon Chattman

The Music Conservatory of Westchester (MCW) and Faust Harrison Pianos have announced the establishment of an expansive new Faust Harrison piano retail, restoration, and performance center on the Conservatory’s campus. Scheduled to open in late spring 2011, the piano center will add an entirely new dimension to MCW’s performing arts education facilities.

MCW’s two-building campus is a cornerstone for arts education within Westchester and the surrounding region, both through its own programming, and through the additional arts organizations it houses, including The Steffi Nossen School of Dance and the Westchester Choral Society. Faust Harrison Pianos is the leading independent retailer of new, used, and rebuilt top-quality pianos in the entire New York metro area. The two neighboring organizations will provide the community with an extraordinary level of piano and music education, made possible through a highly-accomplished faculty, a world-renowned team of piano professionals, and advanced music technology.

The new Faust Harrison Piano Center will occupy a freshly renovated 24,000 square foot facility located directly adjacent to MCW’s 216 Central Avenue building in White Plains. Housing piano showrooms, performance spaces, and a state-of-the-art piano restoration shop, the new Center will benefit MCW students in a variety of ways. Faust Harrison Pianos looks forward to providing and maintaining the highest-level acoustic and digital pianos in MCW’s studios and will also offer convenient, expert advice to students about pianos and other keyboard instruments. There will be tours for individuals and groups, as well as a class tour program for schools.

In the future, Faust Harrison’s extensive collection of technologically advanced keyboard instruments, such as the Yamaha Clavinova and Yamaha AvantGrand, can be incorporated into cutting-edge educational programs for MCW students. Faust Harrison will also incorporate the Disklavier, which enhances the piano education experience via its industry-leading performance reproducing technology. The winner of School Band & Orchestra Magazine’s 2011 Best Tools for Schools Award, the Disklavier also won the Music Teachers National Association’s (MTNA) Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award. In addition, the MCW campus will become perhaps the only one in the nation to include an on-site “old-world craftsmanship” piano restoration center.

“The Music Conservatory of Westchester, which recently celebrated its 80th anniversary, is proud to serve 3,700 students ranging in age from two to 87 years, representing more than 30 nationalities and hailing from 102 communities in a five county area,” said Carol Shiffman, Executive Director of The Music Conservatory of Westchester. “We are thrilled to welcome Faust Harrison Pianos to our campus and look forward to the many benefits our students, faculty and community will reap from this unique collaboration.”

The new relationship between MCW and Faust Harrison Pianos will also bring more high-quality musical performances to the Westchester arts community, as both organizations will regularly host joint and individual live performances by a wide variety of musicians. There will be expanded MCW student, faculty and guest artist recitals, as well as solo and ensemble performances by the same outstanding classical, jazz, experimental, and avant-garde musicians who have made “Piano Row” a critical destination for music performance in New York City, available now in White Plains.

“Faust Harrison Pianos and MCW, combined, offer more than a century of musical knowledge, educational expertise, top-quality instruments, and acclaimed concert performances,” notes Irving Faust of Faust Harrison Pianos, also the exclusive New York retailer of Yamaha Pianos, an integral supporter of the new MCW-Faust Harrison collaboration.

“Yamaha provides the widest and most sophisticated array of musical instruments and technologies available in the world today,” continued Faust. “We’re thrilled to provide these exceptional instruments to help expand the range of pedagogy and performance at the new center.”

Both MCW and Faust Harrison Pianos are operated by professional musicians dedicated to maintaining quality and integrity in their teaching and in their instruments, and to serving the community. In addition, the Conservatory is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, is a member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education, and is chartered by the New York State Board of Regents.

Learn more about the Music Conservatory of Westchester at http://www.musicconservatory.org. Learn more about Faust Harrison Pianos at http://www.faustharrisonpianos.com.

About the Music Conservatory of Westchester
Founded in 1929, the Music Conservatory of Westchester (www.musicconservatory.org) is a non-profit community school of the arts, providing music, musical theatre education, and music therapy for people of all ages and abilities. The Conservatory’s 36,000-square-foot facility in White Plains offers a Recital Hall and 43 acoustically designed classrooms and teaching studios. Their comprehensive programs, which serve 3,700 students annually, include performing ensembles, musicianship classes, student performances, master classes, workshops, and more. All students receive free admission to the Conservatory’s annual series of faculty recitals and children’s concerts. This year, the Conservatory awarded $110,000 in scholarship support and tuition assistance to more than 115 of its students. The Conservatory is chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, a member of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, and is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.

About Faust Harrison Pianos
Established in 1983 by concert pianist Sara Faust, and subsequently joined by composer and pianist Michael Harrison, Faust Harrison Pianos is the nation’s pre-eminent retailer of high quality new, used and restored pianos. It is the exclusive dealer in the greater New York metropolitan area for Yamaha, Bechstein and Mason & Hamlin pianos. It is the world’s largest independent retailer of fully rebuilt “vintage era” Steinway and Mason & Hamlin pianos. Restorations are performed to the very highest standards in the Faust Harrison state-of-the-art piano restoration center, in Westchester, NY. The Faust Harrison lineup of pianos can be seen and played in its showrooms in Manhattan (207 West 58th Street); Westchester (214 Central Avenue, White Plains, NY – opening this spring); and Long Island (277 Walt Whitman Road – route 110 – Huntington, NY – also opening this summer). Faust Harrison Pianos strives always to create, represent and sell the best possible pianos at the best possible values. It provides its wide range of pianos and piano services to individual and institutional clients throughout the world.

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City residents will have a new place to pick up groceries at the brand new White Plains ShopRite, which had its grand opening Wednesday.

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Westchester County, NY (November 19, 2010) – On Saturday, December 11, the Music Conservatory of Westchester will host Performathon 2010, an all-day marathon of student performances that also includes a holiday craft boutique and an array of foods from around the world. The daylong celebration takes place from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Proceeds from the holiday craft boutique, food concessions, and student fundraising will support the Conservatory’s ensemble and student performance fund.

The Conservatory’s Performathon, held once every two years, is a highly anticipated event for the school’s students and faculty. Young children through adults will perform all styles of music – from classical and rock to jazz and opera – in a variety of solo, chamber, and ensemble settings. The holiday craft boutique offers jewelry, music-themed gifts, and more. Featured vendors include handmade jewelry by Lillian Wetzel, musical gifts from Musically Inclined, and Simply Irresistible’s unique scarves and accessories.

Conservatory students were also encouraged to raise funds by securing sponsors for their performances prior to the event. Sponsors pledge a pre-determined dollar amount for each piece the student performs. In addition to helping the school’s ensemble and student performance fund, the top raisers will also receive a variety of fun prizes that include New York Philharmonic tickets, a Yamaha keyboard, HD Flip Cam, iPad, a variety of gift cards, and more.

“Performathon 2010 is a wonderful opportunity for Conservatory friends, parents, and faculty to support and celebrate our students’ many achievements,” said Carol Shiffman, Executive Director of the Music Conservatory of Westchester. “For those considering joining us in the spring, we welcome you to stop by, enjoy the festivities, and learn more about what the Conservatory has to offer.”

The always exciting and popular event is expected to feature 225 performers and bring in more than 800 guests to the Conservatory.

To add to the growing excitement for Performathon 2010, the Conservatory recently held a special logo contest. 14 year-old Armonk resident Nicolette Karanfilan’s design was chosen via an online vote and a select panel of judges as the winner of the contest, which was open to students age 18 and younger. Her design will be featured on commemorative t-shits, the school’s website, and will be on display in the building.

“We were extremely impressed with the creative and inspired designs by all who entered the contest,” said Shiffman. “We are very excited for this event.”

Many opportunities for event sponsorships are available; please contact Chris Meyer, the Conservatory’s Development Director at 914-761-3900 x106, to discuss how your business can be a part of this spirited musical community event.

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The Music Conservatory of Westchester, a non-profit community school of the arts in White Plains, NY, has been awarded a total of $41,000 in grants from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).  The grants will support need-based scholarships and tuition assistance for students ages 7-18, as well as funding for the school’s Live on Central concert series, a partnership with area public schools to provide music education for special needs students, and the Conservatory’s extensive music and musical theatre programming for all ages. The grant-supported scholarships specifically identify students of color from low-income families to enroll.

These students have the opportunity to thrive in the school’s comprehensive program of music instruction, which includes individual instrumental or vocal instruction (classical, jazz, musical theatre), music theory, orchestra, chorus, and ensemble classes. The course of study centers on standard beginner, intermediate, and advanced repertoire for each instrument.

“We are delighted to receive this support and recognition for our work from NYSCA. Our scholarship program ensures that every child, regardless of age, ethnic origin, ability, or financial means, has access to high quality, comprehensive music instruction,” explained Executive Director Carol Shiffman. “We are committed to providing a pre-professional education for these students, all of whom will be eligible to continue with consideration for music scholarships through high school.”
In order to maintain their comprehensive scholarship program, however, the Conservatory must continually seek additional funding sources.

“The need that many of our students face is still growing,” said Shiffman. “The number of requests for financial assistance from our families continues to rise.”

In addition to the need-based scholarships, NYSCA’s grant funding helps to make possible the Conservatory’s ever-expanding list of program offerings and extensive annual concert line-up, which includes a numerous
performance opportunities for students, the school’s expert faculty, and renowned guest artists. NYSCA is dedicated to preserving and expanding the rich and diverse cultural resources that are and will become the heritage of New York’s citizens. The Conservatory’s applications for grant funding were awarded in NYSCA’s Special Arts Services, Music, and Arts Education categories. NYSCA designated the
Conservatory’s grants as part of a three-year funding cycle currently in its second year.

“The Conservatory is particularly grateful to NYSCA for their foresight in awarding this multi-year funding, as it allows for long-range planning and stability,” Shiffman explained.

The Music Conservatory of Westchester is located at 216 Central Avenue in White Plains, NY. Registration is always open and financial assistance is available for qualifying students. They can be reached at (914) 761-
3900 or by visiting www.musicconservatory.org. Follow the Conservatory on Facebook (Westchester MusicConservatory) and Twitter (@MusicCW), or check their new blog (www.musicconservatoryblog.org) for
the latest news and updates.

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Music Conservatory of Westchester will offer an exciting array of new programs in music, musical theatre, and dance this fall when their semester begins Saturday, September 11. Since 1929, the Conservatory has welcomed students of all ages and skill levels, from young children to senior citizens.

“This fall we’re thrilled to introduce a number of exciting new classes,” said Dr. Jean Newton, Dean of Students and Faculty. “We’ve been amazed at the response we’ve received so far from these unique offerings.”

The Conservatory’s lineup of new classes for teens and adults includes: a World Percussion Workshop in which renowned percussionist-composer John Arrucci teaches drumming styles from across the globe; Introduction to Rock Guitar; a Theatre Audition Workshop led by Broadway veteran Sariva Goetz; and a Vocal Performance Workshop with former New York City Opera leading artist Thomas Jamerson.

“Our new Vocal Performance Workshop is a wonderful opportunity for experienced voice students — from teens on up — to take their craft to the next level in a supportive setting,” said Jamerson. “Students perform various styles and languages from the classical and musical theatre repertoire in a small ensemble setting. Instruction is given in diction, stage presence, as well as musical and dramatic interpretation.”

An expanded Adult Program features a new vocal ensemble, Sing!, that covers selections from the American songbook, musical theatre, and folk traditions from around the world. “Sing! is the perfect musical outlet for adults who are exploring their voice for the first time, as well as those who already enjoy singing,” explained Sing! instructor Nils Neubert. “We will explore a variety of singing styles, vocal coordination, solo and group singing, as well as music reading and interpretation.”

For the first time this fall, class offerings will also extend beyond music and musical theatre to include Kathak, a classical Indian dance form that will be taught by renowned master Pandit S.N. Charka, an esteemed dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Derived from the word katha, meaning “a story,” Kathak dance skillfully blends intricate rhythms, dynamic footwork, graceful gestures, and subtle facial expressions.

The Conservatory offers individual lessons in all instruments and voice, provided by expert teachers experienced in working with students of all ages and skill levels. Each student receives an individualized curriculum based on his or her goals, needs, and rate of learning. Semi-private lessons are also available on some instruments for beginner-level students. Music Theory and Music Skills classes are free for students taking individual lessons.

In addition to lessons, a wide variety of classical, jazz, vocal, and rock ensembles — large and small — are offered for youth, teens, and adults. Young thespians can take the Youth or Teen Musical Theatre Workshop, which includes acting, singing, and movement classes. The Conservatory’s youngest students enjoy Music Skills, an active learning class that gives kids a fun introduction to the fundamentals of music, as well as Suzuki instruction in violin, cello, flute, and guitar. A comprehensive Music Therapy Institute provides individualized music therapy programs, adapted instrumental and vocal instruction, group classes, and a family drum circle.

Founded in 1929, the Music Conservatory of Westchester is the oldest and largest community arts school in a five-county region comprising Westchester, Rockland, Bronx, Putnam, and Fairfield counties. Today the Conservatory serves 3,700 students ranging in age from two to 87 years, representing more than 30 nationalities, and hailing from 102 communities in a five county area.

“Accomplished musicians have studied here, performed here, and taught here. Budding performers learn their craft here,” said Carol Shiffman, Executive Director. “This is an exciting time for the Conservatory. Our dedication to lifelong learning in the arts means that we will continually strive to better respond to students’ interests, needs, and abilities. With our expanded programming for 2010-2011, we have done just that.”

Shiffman continued, “The Conservatory has made its mark as an oasis for the arts in Westchester County. As we celebrate our past, we look forward to building our future with new opportunities for everyone in the community. Technology upgrades for composition and recording, a keyboard lab, exciting new classes for adult learners, expanded workshop offerings and performance series — the potential is limitless.”

The Conservatory offers a variety of program packages as well as financial assistance for qualifying students. Registration is always open. For more information, to register, or to request an interview with Conservatory staff or faculty, please contact Jon Chattman, Director of Communications, at (914) 761-3900 x140 or jon@musiced.org.

A complete list of programs is available by visiting www.musicconservatoryonline.org.

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Even before John and Patty Bottomley moved from London to their home on the Rye-Harrison border, John Bottomley knew he would be volunteering his skills in finance and real estate to the Music Conservatory of Westchester.

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The recital was like many others: an auditorium filled with nervous musicians and proud family members, a few tears, and lots of deep bows, with selections ranging from a carefully plucked “Ode to Joy” by a young guitarist to masterful original piano compositions. But there were also small reminders that these musicians face obstacles most don’t. Organizers, for example, requested that the audience applaud quietly after one pianist’s performance so as not to startle him, and a couple children required a quiet word from their accompanist to keep them focused on the keyboard.

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